(1) Field of the Invention:
This invention relates to a new composition of matter and the process for making same. A synthetic sex attractant, (R,Z)-5-(1-decenyl)dihydro-2(3H)-furanone has been synthesized and has been found attractive to male Japanese beetles, Popilla japonica.
(2) Abstract of the Prior Art
The Japanese beetle, Popilla japonica (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae), was introduced to North America about 1916 and has since become well established in the eastern part of the United States. The adults are devastating pests of a variety of trees, ornamentals, and cultivated crops, and the larvae attack the roots of grasses.
The synthesized pheromone, (R,Z)-5-(1-decenyl)dihydro-2(3H)-furanone (FIG. 1), was very attractive to male Japanese beetles in field tests, but a racemic mixture of the synthesized Z-isomer was inactive. Several pheromones that contain asymetric carbons have previously been identified, and in many instances only one enantiomer elicits a behavioral response. On the other hand, Borden et al, Science 192, 894 (1976), reported that both enantiomers of 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-01 were necessary to attract Gnathotrichus sulcatus, and Wood et al, Ibid, 192, 896, reported that Dendroctonus brevicomis responded to specific enantiomers of exo-brevicomin and frontalin. However, this is the first report of inhibition of a behavioral response to a pheromone by its enantiomer.